Suicide bombings kill at least 50 in Iraq

Iraq

An Iraqi soldier is seen in a hospital as a wounded man arrives for treatment after a roadside bomb attack near a market in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq.

An Iraqi soldier is seen in a hospital as a wounded man arrives for treatment after a roadside bomb attack near a market in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq.

Photo: Karim Kadim, AP

Photo: Karim Kadim, AP

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An Iraqi soldier is seen in a hospital as a wounded man arrives for treatment after a roadside bomb attack near a market in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq.

An Iraqi soldier is seen in a hospital as a wounded man arrives for treatment after a roadside bomb attack near a market in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq.

Photo: Karim Kadim, AP

Suicide bombings kill at least 50 in Iraq

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Attacks in northern Iraq and Baghdad on Thursday left at least 50 people dead and many more wounded, raising fears about Iraqi forces' ability to maintain security after most U.S. combat troops withdrew from urban areas last week.

The attacks were the bloodiest since a powerful explosion tore through a busy market in Baghdad's Shiite district of Sadr City in June, killing at least 75 people. On Wednesday, attacks in two Shiite towns in northern Iraq killed 14 people and wounded many others.

The violence has shattered a weeklong lull that, however fleeting, had cast a veneer of normalcy over the country after the June 30 withdrawal. Iraq had marked the much-anticipated pullout with a national holiday.

In a statement on his Web site, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani condemned the attacks and said the "forces of evil and terrorism" were trying in vain to demoralize Iraqi security forces and the civilian population.

In the most lethal attack Thursday, two suicide bombers struck in the town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, killing 34 civilians and wounding 70, police and local officials said.

The first bomber managed to sneak inside the house of a counterterrorism officer and blew himself up, causing the home to collapse. The attack occurred in the al-Qala neighborhood, inhabited mostly by Shiites. When neighbors gathered to help the family trapped inside, the second bomber struck, increasing the bloodshed.

The head of the Tal Afar police, Col. Ali Hadi Obaid, said the bombers were disguised in police uniforms. He added that he had received intelligence reports that four suicide bombers had entered the town Wednesday night and that police were looking for the remaining two. One of them was thought to be a woman, he said.

In Baghdad, an improvised road mine exploded near a market at about 7:30 a.m. in Sadr City. A minute later, another mine was detonated about 100 yards away. Seven were killed and 20 were injured, security and hospital officials said. Later in the day, two roadside bombs targeting a police patrol near a market in another Shiite area in northern Baghdad killed nine people and wounded 35, police said.